Our Story

Autism Parents Together is a support charity in Teesside that grew out of the collective needs of the local autism community.

Autism became part of my life in 2014, when two of my sons were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. As a result, I became involved in the local autism support community and became an administrator for a local Facebook autism support group.

I already knew Gemma Wilkinson from the Remembering Rebecca charity, which she had established in the name of her daughter who had died aged 21 months. The charity offers financial assistance to children, from birth to 16 years, with Lissencephaly and other neurological conditions.

I was in almost daily contact with Gemma, either referring parents and carers to her who needed help with specialist equipment or supporting her families who were affected by autism. I also helped many families with autistic children and young people access the sibling events that Remembering Rebecca offer. Supporting siblings is something we are both very passionate about.

Over time, more and more people sought our help. We became acutely aware of the lack of activities and services available to autistic children and their families. We also recognised a lack of support for the siblings of autistic children and young people. We both knew there was a need, but what could we do about it?

I was already friends with Amy Rowe and Karen Clayton as parents in the local autism community and I knew that they had arranged some successful soft play events for autistic children and their families. With Remembering Rebecca’s support, we began organising soft play sessions for families with autistic children and young people. They were always in demand and were always oversubscribed.

Gemma and I were still in daily contact and because the events were so well subscribed, Gemma then offered me a large sum of funding. I accepted this funding, this is how the activities could continue and was how the charity was ultimately established.

By October 2018, it became obvious that the needs of the families and the events themselves were so distinct that they needed their own distinct management. Amy and Karen agreed to join me and so Autism Parents Together was born.

The Facebook support group continued to grow and with it so did the demand for activities and support. In January 2019, we sought the advice of Catalyst, a local organisation that help voluntary and community support enterprises. Following a lengthy discussion, they advised Autism Parents Together to become a charity, which it did in May 2019.

Our initial board of trustees was me as Chair, Karen Clayton as Secretary and our husbands came on board to help too.

When I started on my autism journey I was very isolated and alone. Facebook groups didn’t exist. It took me years to build up the courage to go to organisations for support. Autism Parents Together including the Facebook support group is exactly what I would’ve benefited from when I started out. I am really proud of what we have created and what we can offer to local families.